2,639,035 Shares in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) Purchased by Raymond James Financial Inc.

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,639,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $33,964,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AES by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 830,873 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,667,000 after buying an additional 28,043 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in AES by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 147,861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,966,000 after purchasing an additional 12,841 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc lifted its stake in AES by 97.4% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 86,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,736,000 after purchasing an additional 42,707 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in AES by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,596,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,016,000 after purchasing an additional 59,735 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in AES by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 447,842 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,984,000 after purchasing an additional 16,750 shares in the last quarter. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AES Trading Up 3.9 %

Shares of NYSE AES opened at $12.30 on Friday. The AES Co. has a 1 year low of $9.88 and a 1 year high of $22.21. The stock has a market cap of $8.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $11.27 and a 200 day moving average of $14.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

AES (NYSE:AES) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. AES had a net margin of 8.34% and a return on equity of 27.30%. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.07 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.73 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The AES Co. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AES Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a $0.176 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.72%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America raised shares of AES from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $11.00 to $13.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. Susquehanna reduced their target price on shares of AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of AES from $17.00 to $12.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AES presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.30.

AES Company Profile

The AES Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a diversified power generation and utility company in the United States and internationally. The company owns and/or operates power plants to generate and sell power to customers, such as utilities, industrial users, and other intermediaries; owns and/or operates utilities to generate or purchase, distribute, transmit, and sell electricity to end-user customers in the residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental sectors; and generates and sells electricity on the wholesale market.